misogi

Updated: August 28, 2026

By the misogi the body was cleansed; by the harai all offences were expiated; the origin of the latter rite having been the exaction of certain penalties from Susanoo for his violent conduct towards the Sun goddess.* The two ceremonies, physical cleansing and moral cleansing, prepared a worshipper to approach the shrine of the Kami.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era